Ethereum’s Ecosystem Expanded in 2025 While ETH’s Price Stalled, Everstake Report Finds
Staking participation crossed the 30 % mark, Layer‑2 throughput broke the 300‑TPS barrier, and major protocol upgrades were delivered even as the token’s market price drifted lower.
Key points
- Staking hits near‑record levels: Approximately 36 million ETH are now secured in proof‑of‑stake contracts, representing just over 30 % of the total supply—a net increase of more than 1.8 million ETH during the year.
- Layer‑1 activity rises: Daily L1 transaction volume grew by roughly 30 %, hovering around 1.5–1.6 million transactions per day.
- Layer‑2 scaling gains traction: Throughput on Ethereum’s secondary networks topped 300–330 transactions per second, underscoring a shift of everyday activity away from the base chain.
- Total value locked (TVL) steadies: The ecosystem’s TVL sits near $72 billion, indicating sustained capital deployment despite a 10 % year‑to‑date decline in ETH’s price (currently ~$2,930).
- Protocol upgrades delivered: The Pectra upgrade introduced EIP‑7251, expanding the maximum effective validator balance from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, while the Fusaka upgrade activated PeerDAS (EIP‑7594) to improve data availability for high‑throughput Layer‑2 blobs.
- Validator‑client risk remains: A December 2025 outage affecting the Prysm client caused validator participation to dip to ~75 % and resulted in 248 missed blocks, highlighting concentration risks even as Ethereum retains a broader client ecosystem than many competing L1s.
Growing Participation Amid Price Pressure
Everstake’s annual Ethereum Staking Insights & Protocol Analysis report paints a picture of a network that continued to mature despite a relatively flat token price. By the end of 2025, 30.26 % of all ETH were locked in staking contracts, according to data aggregated from Coinbase and other on‑chain analytics providers. This represents the highest staking ratio ever recorded for the platform and signals confidence from both retail and institutional participants.
The influx of staked ETH also translated into a rise in the total value locked across decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, which the report places at nearly $72 billion. While the price of ETH fell about 10 % over the twelve‑month period, the TVL metric remained stable, suggesting that capital is staying within the ecosystem rather than exiting for fiat or alternative assets.
Layer‑2 Networks Take the Lead
Transaction volume on Ethereum’s base layer climbed to 1.5–1.6 million daily transactions, a 30 % increase from the previous year. More importantly, the throughput on Layer‑2 solutions—including Optimism, Arbitrum, and newer rollups—surpassed 300 TPS, edging toward the “high‑throughput” benchmark that many developers have long sought.
Everstake’s analysis interprets this shift as an evolving settlement hierarchy: L1 is increasingly used for finality and high‑value settlement, while L2 handles the bulk of day‑to‑day user interactions. The Fusaka upgrade’s PeerDAS data‑availability enhancement is expected to further boost rollup capacity by allowing larger “blobs” of transaction data to be posted more efficiently.
Upgrades Target Validator Economics and Data Availability
Two headline upgrades defined the year:
| Upgrade | Main Feature | Expected Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Pectra | EIP‑7251 – raises the effective validator balance ceiling from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH | Enables large‑scale stakers to consolidate multiple validator keys, improving operational efficiency and potentially reducing entry barriers for institutional delegators. |
| Fusaka | PeerDAS (EIP‑7594) – a data‑availability scheme for Layer‑2 blobs | Increases rollup data throughput, supporting higher TPS and reducing latency for complex DeFi and NFT use cases. |
These upgrades illustrate a continued focus on scalability and validator economics, aiming to make Ethereum more attractive for both high‑frequency traders and long‑term institutional custodians.
Client Diversity vs. Market Concentration
The report highlights a dual‑edged risk related to client software. While Ethereum benefits from a richer client landscape than many of its L1 peers—spanning execution layer (EL) clients like Geth, Nethermind, Besu, and consensus layer (CL) clients such as Lighthouse, Prysm, Teku, and Lodestar—the market share remains skewed. Geth commands roughly 47 % of EL usage, and Lighthouse accounts for about 48 % of CL nodes.
A Prysm outage in December 2025 temporarily knocked validator participation down to ~75 %, leading to 248 missed blocks. Everstake warns that such concentration could amplify the systemic impact of bugs or attacks on the dominant clients, even though the overall client ecosystem stays more diversified than those of Bitcoin or Solana.
Looking Forward
Everstake concludes that the staking market is becoming more sophisticated, as institutional players vie for the same yield opportunities and liquidity pools. Competition for high‑quality staking services is expected to intensify, prompting providers to differentiate through custody solutions, risk‑monitoring tools, and yield‑optimisation strategies.
Takeaways for Investors and Developers
- Staking remains a core pillar of Ethereum’s security model, with participation crossing 30 % and institutional interest rising.
- Layer‑2 adoption is accelerating, delivering the bulk of transaction volume and paving the way for broader DeFi scalability.
- Protocol upgrades (Pectra, Fusaka) address both validator economics and data availability, reinforcing Ethereum’s roadmap toward higher throughput.
- Client concentration presents a non‑trivial risk; recent outages serve as a reminder to monitor client health and diversification.
- Price decoupling—ETH’s modest depreciation despite network growth—suggests that on‑chain fundamentals can thrive independently of short‑term market sentiment.
As 2026 unfolds, the Ethereum ecosystem appears poised to deepen its infrastructure capabilities while navigating the operational challenges that accompany a maturing, institutionally‑influenced staking landscape.
Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/research-and-opinion/ethereum-ecosystem-grew-in-2025-even-as-eth-price-lagged-everstake
